Rewind
by Crazy.rabbit2
Summary: Jesse and Walter somehow find themselves ten years in the past, and only they seem to remember the future. Walter thinks the whole situation must be a dream, while Jesse see's it as a second chance. Unable to discover the truth, Jesse tries to lead a normal high school life but Walter has other plans, and wants to resurrect his drug empire, but finds he needs Jesse's help.
1. Chapter 1

Jesse knew he had to be dreaming. He knew this because even though he could feel the softness of the bed sheets on top of him, and smell bacon in the air, his Aunt Jenny who'd died seven years ago was standing before him. Yes defiantly a dream, a realistic dream but a figment of Jesse's sleeping imagination all the same.

"Get up Jesse! Or you'll be late for school, and I don't need those damn teachers ringing me up complaining again." Aunt Jenny said, shaking his shoulder and smiling. Jesse was startled by how he could actually feel her grip, feel her bony fingers against his shoulder.

He looked up at his Aunt, a sudden feeling of sorrow washed over him. God did he miss her, she had been like a mother to him, when his own parents rejected him.

"Damn, I wish this was real." He said, surprised by how his voice sounded- higher than he remembered.

"This is real, Jesse- have you been smoking pot, young man?" Jenny asked, smirking her trademark smirk. Jesse had forgotten how sharp and funny she'd been before the cancer.

"I can't even remember." Jesse said, suddenly on impulse hugging her "-it's so fricken' good to see you again- "

"Are you alright, Kiddo?" Aunt Jenny asked, hugging him back non the less "-I saw you last night, did you really miss me that much?"

Jesse wiped his eyes and climbed out of bed, looking around- it was his room at his aunt's house, all the old posters covered the walls- he'd forgotten how many Bob Marle one's he used to have, what happened to those anyway? Was this really a dream, everything felt far too real, he could here birdsong and kids playing outside and all that crap, every sensory detail from normal everyday life was here. Could this be reality? Impossible.

Jesse froze when he turned and saw his reflection in the mirror. The teenage version of himself stared back at him, blue eyes wide and in shock, clean-shaven with boyish good lucks.

"I'd be horrified too if I had to wake up every mourning with a face like that." Jenny said, breaking Jesse's trance. She ruffled his hair affectionately. "Now hurry up and get dressed or I'll eat all the bacon myself!"

Jesse came downstairs a few minuets later, her wet from the shower. He'd gotten changed into jeans and a T-shirt. He was still confused though, the whole situation was surreal, here he was with his dead aunt eating bacon. He could even taste the bacon, what the hell?

"Why do you let me live here?" Jesse blurted out suddenly, it was something he always wondered but never got the chance to ask her.

"That was kind of sudden- your acting awful queer today." Jenny said, laughing lightly, she ruffled his hair again just like she always used to. "I let you live here because your family! And I like having you around, your a good boy."

Jesse had to wipe his eyes again, damn had he always been such a cry-baby? Ever since Drew Sharp he constantly felt on the edge of tears. He tried to remember the last thing that'd happened.. He'd argued with Mr White, who didn't want him to leave the business and refused to pay him his share.. He'd been partying with skinny Pete when Saul had shown up, gave him a gun and told him Mr White had murdered the ten witnesses and probably Mike too and- then what?

Jesse's train of thought was broken by the sound of the door knocking.

"Well- go on, head of to school with your friend Bradley or whatever." Aunt Jenny said, lighting herself a cigarette.

"Don't smoke you'll- get cancer."

"Hm- I'll quit when you quit, Kiddo."

"Deal."

"Hurry up and get to school!"  
Jesse started heading towards the door almost automatically he didn't want to leave Aunt Jenny but he knew she'd refuse to let him skip school even if this was a dream.

"Bye Aunt Jenny. Have a great day- say safe- I'll miss you- "

"Geeze Kid, I'll see you when you get home, your going to school, not moving country!.. Bye Jesse, have a great day yourself. Stay out of trouble!"

"You too!"

"Not making any promises."  
Jesse swung open the door, only to come face to face with a fifteen year old Brandon Mayhew.

"Hey Badger- " he said, instinctively.

"Whoa Jesse you like, chopped of all your hair man!" Badger said, Jesse ran a hand through his spiky hair- Oh now he remembered, he had grown it long as a teen, much to his parents disapproval, he did it to piss his dad of, mostly. But after a party, were some guy who was drunk and probably high mistook him for a girl and started to just, make out with him when he was too wasted to even defend himself, he'd cut it all of. So this must me the Monday mourning after that lovely weekend. Great.

"Quit spacing out man- " He heard Badger say, and suddenly he was being pulled along the road. "Hey Jesse, did you do your English homework- oh man you haven't even got your bag! Think Mrs Pierce will believe me if I said my cat ate it because Fluffy likes eatin' paper, so even if I did do my homework, the cat would of still probably eaten it.-"

Jesse tuned out Badger's ramblings and instead tried to work out what the fuck was going on. He'd somehow gotten his twenty five year old mind stuck in his body and life from ten years ago, but how? Aliens? Maybe a long-term effect of taking blue meth. He needed to google this shit! But then he remembered it must be like 1999 or some time like that, and google wasn't nearly as helpful back then. It was probably aliens, Jesse decided, they're the only ones who could pull something like this of.

"Dude are you alright? Jesse?" Badger said, waving his hands in Jesse's face and smiling his goofy smile. "Your head's like, a million miles away- "

"Just thinking of aliens." Jesse replied sullenly, as they approached JP Wynn high school- God, it seemed like this place hadn't changed at all in the ten years.

"No way! Me too!" Badger said. "I was thinking- who would win, an alien, or a predator?"

Jesse raised an eyebrow and laughed despite himself "Alien Vs Predator?"

"Yeah what dude- what's so funny?"

"Badger, you could make a fortune in the film industry."

Badger beamed at the compliment. "Wow you really think so?"

Jesse nodded, he'd forgotten how Badger used to hang onto every word he said when they first became friends. "Badger, what's the date?"

"-November the first-"

"What year?"

"1999, duh? How much weed did you smoke at that party?"

Badger never got an answer to that question, because suddenly both boys were grabbed by Mr Evans, the hard-ass physics teacher who cared waay too much about kids skipping class, even if it wasn't his class.

"Why aren't you two in class? The bell went ten minutes ago?" Mr Evans shouted, Jesse remembered how the guy got fired during his senior year, for throwing a chair at a kid and breaking his arm and smiled at the memory.

"What're you smirking at, Pinkman!?" Mr Evans hissed, Jesse glared back at him, not nervous like his sixteen year old self would of been.

"I'm like, totally sorry dude! I mean er- Sir! We just got. Like. Stopped- by a man looking for directions. And that's why we're late- " Badger rambled, clearly intimidated. Mr Evans was a scary guy, 6'7 and heavily built.

"Be quiet, Mayhew." Mr Evans said, sternly. "Your not in trouble, you don't know any better, do you? Just run along and go to your- special Ed class."  
Badger nodded and left hurriedly, clearly glad to be out of there. The way Mr Evans said 'special ed class' made Jesse's blood boil. Badger had gone to classes that taught lessons at a simpler level, that didn't make him retarded or anything.

"Don't patronize him like that, not cool." Jesse said, he didn't know why he felt so protective of Badger, maybe it was because the guy just looked like a kid, now.

"Tread lightly, Pinkman. You don't want to get into trouble." Mr Evans said, Jesse laughed.

"Oh man, I'm so scared what're you gonna do? Put me on detention?" Jesse said, rolling his eyes. The threats might of scared his teenage-self, but the twenty five year old Jesse had dealt with murderous Drug Lords, a high school teacher with a stick up his ass didn't scare Jesse (unless that teacher was Mr White).

"Exactly." Mr Evans said, "Now get to chemistry!"

"Geeze you have my fricken time-table memorized!?" Jesse said, raising an eyebrow. Next thing Jesse knew, he was being dragged down the corridor by Mr Evans. Instinctively he tried to pull away, but the next thing he knew he was being shoved into the chemistry class room.

"Mr White. This student was late, and was being insolent. I trust you will put him on detention!" Mr Evans shouted, Jesse looked up at Mr White- he was exactly how he remembered him from high school, with his nerdy jumpers and mustache that resembled a dead mouse. Jesse looked at Mr White, catching his eye, and it that moment he knew Mr White had the same memories he had. He could tell by the recognition in Mr White's expression, and the confusion in his eyes.

"Yes.. I'll put Jesse on detention." Mr White said, sounding as lost and as confused as Jesse felt.

"Yo Jesse!" Jesse looked up to see his old chemistry buddy, Justin. A wave of nostalgia hit him, he remembered all the times they'd set things on fire with the bunson burner, and how the amount of chemistry equipment they broke between them must of cost the school a small fortune.

"Jesse, come here and get your work." Mr White said, Jesse walked over, and his teacher got out a glass flask.

"Do you know what this is?"

"Heat-proof boiling flask."

"..can you name some processes it can be used in?"

"Um- cooking meth."

Mr White let out a sigh that could be either relief or frustration "So you remember too, about- "

"2010? Yeah." Jesse replied, his tone hushed. "Mr White what's going on? Is this a dream or? Aliens or?"  
"We'll talk about your behavior after class, Pinkman. Take your seat." Mr White said suddenly, loud enough for the rest of the class to hear. Reluctantly, Jesse agreed sitting next to Justin.

"Yo Jesse!" He repeated again.

"Hey Justin." Jesse said- What happened to Justin in 2010 anyway? Last he heard he'd gotten some girl pregnant then skipped town to avoid the consequences. Asshole.

"Man, was that party at the weekend dope? Next time you an' Pete go out, invite me too. Give a dog a bone will ya? Yo I was stuck at home smokin' a fat haze like, alone, man." Drew rambled.

"Sure." Jesse replied, not really paying attention, he wanted to speak to Mr White about what the hell was going on already. Mr White himself sat at the front furiously scribbling something down, ignoring the class.

"Sir what are we suppose to be doing?". Courtney piped up. Jesse smiled remembering how he always used to bicker with her in every lesson.

"Read your text books." Mr White replied, not looking up.

"Which part?"

"The part you.. Struggle with the most."

"I don't struggle with anything, sir." Courtney said, primly, a ripple of snickers when through the class.

"Well then get out." Mr White said, his voice low and threatening. Damn, the guy must be worked up if he's going all Heisenberg on some fifteen year old nerd. "In fact I want all of you to go to the library and do some independent studying. Class dismissed. Jesse you stay behind."

Courtney looked scandalized but the rest of the class cheered glad to be liberated from the boredom that is Chemistry class. Jesse stayed in his seat, looking up as Mr White approached him.

"So, what's going on?" Jesse asked, hating how high his voice sounded. It wasn't exactly childish, but it wasn't the gruff voice he was used to either.  
"I don't know- my best guess is this is all a delusion, a dream! So even you, Jesse are a figment of my imagination." Mr White said his voice edging on hysteria.

"Bitch! I'm real!" Jesse said, half-amused and half-irritated.

"None of this can be real, Jesse, it's impossible." Walter said, slamming his hands down on the desk. "I woke up this mourning and Skyler was speaking to me like She used to, without animosity or bitterness. She was telling me I had to get ready for work, for school- I tried to remind her I was fired but she just laughed thinking it was a joke. I didn't know what she was playing at! I thought somehow, she'd set this up. Maybe as a way to get me out of the meth business, I don't know! Even with my hair back I didn't believe this was 1999 until- I saw junior. I'd recognize my son as a child anywhere."

Jesse paused. "Then I guess you just went with the flow, like I did, and ended up in highschool?" He wondered why Mr White seemed to be the only other one who remembered, what's up with that? It wasn't like they were even partners anymore, Jesse had walked out of that shit storm, he knew Mr White had killed Mike and those ten witnesses, he figured the guy was coming after him next.

"Something like that." Mr White replied wearily. "If your real too then what is this?- "

"Aliens." Jesse said simply. "Aliens or ghosts or something gave us a physic vision into the future. I know it sounds crazy man but- hey maybe we are crazy and all that stuff about the meth dealing, and Gus and everything was just an illusion."

Walter paused, genuinely considering the idea, he didn't like how hopeful Jesse sounded- did he really want the empire they built together to be just be nothing more than an insane delusion?"What, both of us are suddenly crazy and have the same hallucinations down to the exact details?" Walter asked, raising his eyebrow. "That's just stupid." 

"Yo' this situations stupid!"

"There's a way to find out." Walter said. "If the things- the people we know in the future like Gale, Gus, and Mike are real in this reality then we can rule out the crazy delusion idea, okay?"  
"So, if we didn't just imagine the future up?"

"Then this is a dream. It has to be, I must be dreaming."

"Hey!" Jesse said "If it's anyone's dream it's mine- I know I'm real! So maybe someone gave us a vision of the future as like.. A warning!"

"Who did that, aliens?" Walter said, his tone patronising. "Don't tell me your intelligence has shrunk along with your size."

"Asshole." Jesse huffed, shoving his hands in his pocket- It was almost like he and Walter were back to how they used to be when they first started cooking meth. That's the last thing Jesse wanted, since he'd killed Mike and those ten guys in prison Walter had become a source of fear for him. "So, When should we like- find out if Gale and Mike were ever real?" Jesse asked.

"Right now." Walter replied.

"What about school?"

Mr White laughed "As if you ever cared about school! Finding out what the hell's going on here is more important than class!"

"-Whatever man, let's go- " Jesse said, but the pair were suddenly interrupted by the door swinging open and Mrs Grey, the chemistry teacher stepping in. Jesse looked up at her, he felt his heart suddenly start to pound as he remembered all the 'extra tutoring' she'd gave him. He didn't normally act like this around women, even the hot one's. Must be something to do with being in the body of a sixteen year old. Fucking hormones.

"Sorry, Mr White, but Jesse's suppose to be in my class now, I'll have to steal him from you" She said, "We have some very important work to do.. Very important!"

Mr White just looked up at her, recognizing her instantly as the teacher fired for inappropriate student-teacher relationships. Without waiting for a response, Mrs Grey pranced into the room, touching Jesse lightly on the shoulders almost guiding him out. She shot a wide smile at Mr White before adding.

"Oh, and Walter dear- your next class is waiting outside for you to call them in. Could you do it please? They're making quite the ruckus!"

"Right. Jesse speak to me after school you have- detention." Walter, he never liked that women. He wondered if he should just get Jesse and go and try to work out what was going on around here, but he figured there was no point making a scene even if this was a dream, after all there was still a chance this was reality. Still, this whole situation was so frustrating! Walter was a man who desired control so he hated not knowing what was going on. He thought about what Jesse said. A Warning.

Ha! A warning from what? Walter figured he was doing just fine in the mess business better than fine- he was building an empire! He had it all planned out- he'd amass a fortune for his family and build a meth empire bigger than the Grey Matter business. Jesse would end up helping him cook again, Walter knew that was best for him, he didn't want the boy wasting his potential- besides what else did Jesse have in his life? Holly and Junior would grow up happy with all the money they needed, and Skyler would eventually come around. He wanted Hank to find out- he wanted to see the shock on Hank's face when he realized Walter wasn't just some mild-mannered nerd- maybe he could find out just before Walter died. '_How should I die?_' Walter began to wonder._ Cancer? Gunshot?_

"Sir.. Are you okay?" A student who'd wandered into the room asked, he was kind of freaked out by Mr White's creepy glare into space, the guy looked like.

"Man Mr White's gone locco." Some boy called out causing the class to erupt with laughter like it was the funniest thing they've ever heard.

"Shut up and sit down." Mr White snarled, in no mood to deal with rowdy teens. He'd forgotten how much he hated this job.

* * *

**(a/n: Thanks for reading, please comment what you thought! :D.. I know, I know, it doesn't have clear direction, it's a slow-srat and maybe a little dialouge heavy but I'm trying to pick up the pace as I go along :D.. 3**


	2. Chapter 2

Walter White stared into his reflection in the cloudy mirror of the staff toilets. It was almost surreal seeing his younger reflection staring back. He guessed he must be about forty now, it's amazing how much difference ten years can make. His face was less lined, his eyes less weary and tired, and his hair was still there, thick and full.

The bell went for end of lessons. Finally. Walter hadn't been able to focus on his work all day- it seemed unimportant considering this all might be a dream anyway, and he might just wake up at anytime. He'd forgotten how annoying high school kids were- were kids in the nineties worse behaved than modern day kids or was it's just Walt's annoyance making it seem worse? All he knew was that every paper-airplane and ever rude remark made him want to slam their smarmy little faces into the desk. Mr White wasn't used to being disrespected anymore.

He waited in the class room for Jesse to come- why was he the only other one who remembered? Was there other people who remembered? Walt tried to recall the last thing he could before he woke up in 1999. He'd finished another monotonous cook with Todd, he was on his way home and- then what? Had he crashed and fell into a coma?  
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Jesse. God it was weird seeing him as a teen again.

"So you worked out what the hell's going on yet?" Jesse asked, hopping up onto one of the tables.

"Where'd you get that?" Walter asked, pointing at the newly formed bruise on Jesse's cheek. He raised his eyebrow slightly, his expression was almost mocking.

"Walked into a wall." Jesse said, not caring that it was an obvious lie. "So the plan is we just like, research if the stuff we know about the future is real in this reality too?"

"That's the gist of it." Walter replied. "Now- we don't have facebook or anything to help us, and google isn't nearly as effective in this day and age so it might take a little more research- "

"Got it." Jesse said, picking up a vial and playing with it absent-mindedly "So you still think this is a dream?"

"Yes, that's the most logical explanation- " Walter said, about to explain his reasoning again, before Jesse interrupted him.

"What if it isn't? What if like, Gale and Gus don't even exist and we just dreamed the whole future up, what then?" The student asked, "Do you think maybe we should like- get our brains checked out? "

"No." Walter said quickly. "I highly doubt that we both had the same dream, Jesse, I know I've lived up until 2010. I didn't dream that up- we didn't dream that up!"

"But we're not in a dream now either, I can tell- fuck this is more complicated than inception." Jesse said, scowling. "Admit it- this doesn't feel like a dream."

"Maybe not." Walter said, after a long pause "But like I said- it's the only logical explanation."

"But wouldn't it be awesome if the past ten years like, didn't even happen?" Jesse said, grinning unconsciously at the thought.

"You may of sold-out your potential, and ruined your life in every other way, But I'm finally successful in 2010. I have the best product around, my empire will soon grow to be bigger than grey matter's!"

"It's a meth empire, Mr White- whats to be proud of there? no matter how much you dress it up, Shit is still shit." Jesse said, his old anger with his teacher quickly flaring up. "Yeah- and don't forget the people who died. All the bodies you- we built your empire on. Gale, Drew Sharp- I mean, Jesus, he was just a kid and he got killed just because we wanted some methyl-amine."

"It's a tragedy. But it had to happen all of it- Jesse, since Drew Sharp I can't sleep I- "

"Cut the bullshit. You think your asleep right now!" Jesse shouted, he wiped his eyes, not allowing himself to cry. How come every conversation with Mr White had to turn all emotional these days. "And you killed Mike!"

Walter looked for a moment like he was about to shout but instead he let out a low sigh, and slowly, he walked across the class room towards Jesse, until he and his former student were face to face.

"I didn't kill Mike. I need you to believe me on that, Jesse." Walter said, their faces inches apart. Jesse instinctively pulled away, hating the feeling of the older man's breath on his face. At that moment, Walter looked so sincere and honest that Jesse almost believed him. Almost. But then he remembered the nine guys killed in prison- something Mike would never allow. Jesse sighed and hopped of the table- he was so through with this bullshit.

Walter scowled when he saw Jesse leaving, without even giving a response. "Where are you going?"

"Research, investigate, whatever!" Jesse said, before Walt could protest he added "It's not like we're even partners anymore- you said it yourself."

"Jesse! We're the only two people who- "

"I'll catch you later!"

"Jesse!"

But he was already gone. Walter sighed- why did that boy have to be difficult, couldn't he see they'd work better as a team?  
Just then, Mr Shaw the head teacher. "Hello Walter." He said, in a fake-friendly tone.

"-was that Jesse Pinkman storming out of your class? That boy's becoming a problem. Sometimes you need to be firmer with your students though or they'll walk all over you."

"I'll bear that in mind." Walter said tightly, in no mood for a lecture.

"I know kids can be hard to control but it's your job." Mr Shaw said, suddenly dropping a pile of paper-work on Mr White's desk. "The secretary is sick, but your good at dealing with paper work, right? Good- your a life saver, much appreciated."

Walter glared down at the paper-work, it could take hours to do. Did he really used to let himself get pushed into doing all the dirty work for these people? "I'm not a secretary,"

"You know Mr Matthews the head of science is retiring soon. And it's up to me who takes that position next."

"I'm not doing it. I need to get home to my- family." Walter said, keeping Mr Shaw's glare. Actually seeing his family again would be nice. He'd forgotten how sweet Skyler could be and what a cute kid Walt Jr was. Even if this was a dream, it seemed so real he treated it as reality.

"I'm leaving this with you, Walter- "

"Fine. Leave it with me. See what happens." Walter growled, Mr Shaw looked astounded at the personality change.

"Walter are you feeling okay?"

"I feel fine." Walter snapped, already walking out. "Now I'm going to see my family!"

Mr Shaw watched him leave, speechless "_So you finally grew a backbone, huh, Walter?"_

* * *

Jesse was just leaving the school grounds, when a familiar battered car blaring music pulled up on the sidewalk next to him.

"Hey! Get in, little dude! What took you so long, man?" A Man asked. It took Jesse a moment to recognize him as the eighteen year old Skinny Pete. He'd forgotten how the guy looked before he went to jail and his long-time meth use really took his toll. Combo was riding shotgun.

"Well don't just stand there yo' get in." Skinny Pete said, Jesse climbed in the back. Seeing Combo alive made him feel relief and guilt all at once. He looked so different as a teen. Just a nervous little fat boy looking dead out of place next to Skinny Pete, who was smoking, the cigarette hanging lazily out of his mouth. That's how it starts, you want to be in the stoner group just to fit in somewhere, but once your in you can't get out.

"Whatever, man" Jesse said, he wasn't sure why he was even going along with them- he just needed something to distract himself from thoughts of Mr White. Besides, these guys would probably have beer, that'd calm him down, right? He'd had a shit day, having to put up with the general weirdness of being in high school, and being knocked around by the older, bigger kids (that legit happened). A nice cool beer and maybe a joint or two was exactly what he needed.

"Alright lets go!." Skinny Pete half-shouted, starting the car and driving of, swerving to narrowly avoid hitting a tree.

"Shit- Dude, are you drunk?" Jesse asked, "Let me take the wheel before you kill us, man!"

Pete just laughed "Relax! you don't even have your license yet, I'm fine, yo!"

"I swear to God if you get us killed, your dead- "

"Chillax, little Dude, your in good hands." Skinny Pete said, Combo giggled nervously.

"Were we going, anyway?" Jesse asked, leaning into the chair and smelling the familiar smell of alcohol and weed.

"Emilio's." Pete replied, and Jesse felt his blood run cold with dread. Emilio. Last time he saw him, the guy had been pointing a gun at him with every intention of using it- No. The last time he'd seen Emilio he'd been lowering his dead body into a bathtub full of acid and watching it corrode.

* * *

Walter got straight on the computer as soon as he got home that night. It was when he was drumming his fingers impatiently waiting for the damn thing to load already that Skyler walked in.

"Walter- I thought I said we should sell that computer. It just wastes electricity and we really need the money. You know. For Junior." Skyler said, her voice authoritative. The chemistry teacher sighed, he hated being poor.

"Yes dear." He said,

"Are you okay Walter, you seem a little off today?" Skyler mused, walking over "Have you been getting enough sleep? have you been eating properly? i know how cranky you get when you haven't had a proper meal."

"I'm fine, honey." Walter replied, brushing her off. He knew Skyler meant well, but he just found it patronizing, Skyler fixed him a skeptical stare.

"Whatever you say Walt," Skyler said, "just get cleaned up- Marie and Hank are coming in later."

"Yay Uncle Hank!" Came a familiar high-pitched voice from behind the door. Skyler laughed.

"Junior! what have I told you about listening in?" She chided, as Junior giggled Walter just sighed. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with the boisterous Hank. This was his dream, shouldn't he just be able to do whatever he wanted? he stared at the desk trying to will a stack of money into existence but nothing happened. Nothing. Suddenly, Skyler was behind him, hands on his shoulders, whispering in his ear.

"I know you think I nag, but we need the money. The Doctor said good physiotherapy could really improve junior's prospects right now." Skyler said, her voice low so their son couldn't hear from his spot on the landing. "I think maybe we both need to take second jobs."

Walter nodded, he remembered it was about now that his family's financial situation really started going down the toilet. Even with both of them working and saving they could only ever afford mediocre physiotherapy for junior, but the kid would never complain, he'd just tank through his problems with the resolve of twenty armies.

"Go take a shower, they'll be here soon- " Skyler said, Walter got up his head still full of thoughts of money and finances. Those problems followed him even in his dreams, didn't they?

* * *

Jesse had already finished a can of Skinny Pete's luke-warm beer by the time they got to Emilio's. He needed it just to face the guy, he wondered if he should just go, but this was probably the only was he could get himself a joint. Smoking a joint was technically research, right? I mean, if he could get high then this wasn't a dream, you don't get high in dreams.

They pulled up outside Emilio's little tersest house, and all too soon Jesse was being pulled by Skinny Pete into the house.

"This'll be the bomb, yo, He's got a whole pound of weed." Skinny Pete said, as he stood outside the door, grinning. "We'll just sit back, burn one, and let the good times roll in. Yeah, this'll be an all day party."

"What about school?" Combo asked timidly, biting his lip, his eyes shone with both apprehension and anticipation, part of Jesse wanted to grab him and tell him to run- leave before he gets into drugs and gets shot in the neck by a ten year old when he's only like, twenty six.

"Fuck school, Man," Skinny Pete said, as the door swung open revealing Emilio.

"You weren't followed, were ya?" He asked, hurriedly ushering them in. "No police, no wires. I'm only lettin' you guys in coz Jesse said you're cool."

"The cops have better things to do, man, we're just a couple of nobody's to them." Jesse said, walking in and trying not to look at Emilio, knowing if he did it would only make him feel even more uneasy. He wondered once again why the hell he was even coming here. Oh well. It was basically research, if he could get high then it couldn't be a dream, you don't actually get high in dreams, right?

"whatever." Emilio said, shifting his eyes around as if he expected the cops to jump out at any second. As soon as they were all inside he slammed the door shut, and lead them back to his bed room. It stunk of weed, just like Jesse remembered, a few other guys were already sat around their eyes red-rimmed. They seemed ridiculously young to be druggies, but Jesse realized he probably looked younger than all of them.

"You weren't followed, were ya?" He asked, hurriedly ushering them in. "No police, no wires. I'm only lettin' you guys in coz Jesse said you're cool. And cause you said you could get the meth- you have got the meth, right?"

"Chill, it's in my pocket." Skinny Pete replied

"Shh- don't talk about that out here!"

"The cops have better things to do, man, we're just a couple of nobody's to them." Jesse said, walking in and trying not to look at Emilio, knowing if he did it would only make him feel even more uneasy. He wondered once again why the hell he was even coming here. Oh well. It was basically research, if he could get high then it couldn't be a dream, you don't actually get high in dreams, right?

"Whatever- I just don't wanna go to prison, aight?." Emilio said, shifting his eyes around as if he expected the cops to jump out at any second. As soon as they were all inside he slammed the door shut, and lead them back to his bed room. It stunk of weed, just like Jesse remembered, a few other guys were already sat around their eyes red-rimmed. They seemed ridiculously young to be druggies, but Jesse realized he probably looked younger than all of them.

"Yeah, I hear ya." Skinny Pete said, sitting on the couch as if he owned the place Emilio tossed Jesse a thick wad of notes, held together by an elastic band.

"As promised, there's your share for helping make that last batch of meth. It sold real well, real well. We should make this a full-time thing." Emilio said, grinning Jesse stared at the money in his hand, damn.. he forgot he'd already gotten into shake-n-bake meth making at like, 15. There was at least $100, probably nly a tiny fraction of what the meth had sold for but still..

"It's money dude, it's not gonna bite ya- " Skinny Pete said, nudging Jesse, who just kind of nodded. "Emilio, brother! you gotta get me in on some of the action!"

"Yeah we'll see." Emilio said, Lighting a joint. "Weed's under the bed- beer's in the fridge. I got some smokin' hot babes comin' over later, lets party!"

"And this is the red car- he's the fastest because he has go faster stripes." Junior said, as he sat on the floor next to his father, his toy cars sprawled about on the floor. Walter nodded stiffly, unable to really engage with his son- The mess annoyed him, and speaking to Junior as a child was just so.. odd. At that moment, the doorbell went, and Skyler opened it to let Hank and Marie in.

"Uncle Hank!" Junior cheered, immediately hobbling over to his favorite uncle, forgetting he was even playing with his dad. Walt felt that familiar feeling of jealousy stirring in his stomach. Why did his son always prefer Hank? even in dreams? This was a dream, wasn't it?

"Hey there, champ!" Hank Enthused, bursting into the house, beer can in hand. "Hey! Guess who did a drug bust! that's right me! It was intense! Skyler- lookin' good!"

"Wow a real drugs bust did you get guns!" Junior asked, as Skyler welcomed them in.

Dinner was awful, the oven broke so they had to order food in. Then he and Skyler didn't have the money on them to pay for it, and the company didn't accept credit cards for some reason, so they had to borrow of the Schraders. The entire night Hank made digs about Walt's lame teaching job and how much of a nerd he was. Hank didn't mean any harm, he said it all in good fun- it was banter! But right now Walter found it infuriating, he struggled to play along. Pretty soon he was sick of Hank's bragging, and his boisterous laughter.

"No offence Walt- but you work with kids and I'm out there fighting hardcore criminals. I don't think you know what it means it have a stressful job." Hank laughed, after Skyler has asked Walt why he was acting so strange and he'd replied 'stress from work'.

"You try teaching chemistry to teens that don't care, it's a lot more stressful than you'd think." Walter said, clenching his jaw.

Hank laughed again, making Walter's blood boil. "Seriously though- you can't even compare a couple a' moody teens to getting attacked by some crazy druggies on a daily basis. Now that's a man's job!"

Walter forced a laugh "Whatever you say." he said, he hated being reminded he was just a teacher in this reality. Hank was right it wasn't manly. It was pathetic, once again, Walter ached to have his drug empire back and be Heisenberg. He needed the power.

* * *

"So then- So then- we're like high-fiving cause we robbed the train and then Todd. Fucking Todd pulls a gun out on this kid and shoots him. Point blank in the face. Fuck yo' it was fuckin' grim." Jesse said, leaning against the wall and taking another drag. The other's laughed. It late in the evening, and the boys were all sitting and lying haphazardly around the room amoungst discarded beer cans and packs of cheetos, while Eminem blurred from the old radio. A thin mist of marijuana smoke veiled the room.

"What're you talking about man?" Combo asked, His face broke into a drunken grin "oh man- Jesse is totally wasted!"

"Fuck of I aint. Stop laughing this is serious shit the kid died!" Jesse said, his eyes were bloodshot and unfocused, combo was right, he was totally wasted. He wasn't planning on getting this out of it, he just needed a little buzz. He only had a few beers, a few shots, a bit of weed. But his teenage body hadn't built up the high tolerance level his adult body had, some shit like that. At twenty five Jesse could function on far more hard-core drugs than these, but at sixteen, not so much.

"Yo, is this like a movie you saw or somethin', dawg?" Skinny Pete asked, sipping on his beer. "Some train robbery movie, shit."

"No dude, it's real.. or it was real." Jesse said, nodding. "Ah man! I'm so glad that all those people didn't die. I didn't want to shoot that Gale dude I really didn't- and Mike was awesome, I don't know why that dickhead Mr White ever killed him. He did kill him, I know it. Emilio, bro, your awesome, I'm like, so happy that I didn't melt your body in acid. That wrecked my house man,"

The res of them carried on laughing as Jesse's apparent craziness, Emilio looked half-disturbed, half-amused.

"The Fuck you talking about, Jesse?" He said, chucking a beer can at his blue eyed friend, neither of them cared when it hit him, and the beer splattered on his top.

"I'm just sayin' I'm sorry for like, melting you in acid in the tub, and not just cause it wrecked my house." Jesse murmured, his mood suddenly morose. " An I'm sorry for Krazy 8 too- he was a bastard but like, we shouldn't of kept him in the basement with a bike-lock around his neck for so long- fuck dude. But he did worse things, he used to rip guy's apart with his dog, man"

"Who the hell is Krazy 8? Man, you crazy. I told you to slow down on the shots." Emilio said, rolling over to lean his head on Pete's shoulder. That's right, Krazy 8 didn't have his nickname yet, he was still Domingo, the kid who helped his dad out down at Tampico furniture.

"It don't matter.." Jesse said, staring up at the ceiling and closing his eyes, willing himself to stop running his mouth. He knew he was talking too much, and what he said wasn't make sense, but everything was just kind of spilling out, he couldn't help it, his brain felt almost disconnected to his mouth.

"Your mental, man." Pete said, still smirking "Your gonna end up bat-shit crazy like your aunt."

"Hey fuck you man!" Jesse shouted suddenly feeling irrational anger surge over him, before he could say more stuff he could regret,he stood up, wobbling to his feet and almost losing his balance Suddenly the room was no longer familiar and comforting, it was suffocating and he had to get out of there.

"Where you goin', yo?" Pete asked from the floor as Jesse stumbled out.

"Home. I gotta get home." Jesse said, feeling the world spin beneath him, this was ridiculous! He'd only had a little bit of beer and a couple of joints! He heard Emilio shouting for him to come back, but instead he staggered out of the house into the street he didn't even think about were he was going, his head was all over the place. _of course, straight back on the drugs I'm such a fucking loser. Fuck it! this is probably a dream anyway. I didn't even tell Aunt Jenny I was going out. Whatever I didn't even take that much! Shit. Why am I such a fuck up?_

* * *

**_(a/n: I was going to add more to this chapter but I was taking way to long to finish it so I just decided to upload this ;_;... _**

**_anyway! thanks for all the comments they really helped me get the motivation to write this :D... so thanks! I still miss breaking bad but reading/writing fanfiction is helping with the withdrawels!_**

**_Anyway, please comment to tell me what you think!_**


	3. Chapter 3

Jesse walked to school, his eyes puffy and red from lack of sleep and smoking weed. His head pounded with a hangover that seemed to get worse with every step he took. Back when he actually was a teenager, he would never if gone to school in these circumstances, and would probably just lie in bed all day, but the sight of Aunt Ginny's worried face when he finally walked home last night was enough to guilt him into at least making the effort.

That was the thing about Aunt Jenny, she always pretended like she didn't care what Jesse did, but it'd be her who'd wait up for him late at night, and look after him when he did something dumb and hurt himself. So, despite the (self inflicted) pain, Jesse trudged to JP Wynn high, trying not to think about how Mr White would be pissed at him for not doing the research. Whatever. Jesse'd discovered he could still get drunk an stoned, that was proof enough for him that this wasn't a dream. He'd managed to sleep for a few hours too, you can't fall asleep inside a dream, right?

As if Jesse'd summoned him by thought alone, a worn-down black car pulled up next to him on the pavement. The window rolled down, revealing a disheveled looking Walter White. The guy's hair stuck out in all directions, and his eyes too were blood-shot, but Jesse guessed that was defiantly because he was tired, and not because he'd been smoking weed.

"Rough night?" Jesse asked, smirking a little. "You look like you haven't slept at all, man."

"I haven't." Mr White snapped, irritably. "I wasn't able to do any research because my computer wasn't working properly. I'm guessing you haven't done any either?"

"I found out I can sleep, get drunk and get high. Pretty sure I couldn't do that if this was a dream."  
Walter rolled his eyes, the disapproving look in them almost made Jesse cringe

"Get in." He commanded, his voice gruff, and as if on instinct, Jesse climbed in, moving an action man doll of the chair as he sat down.

"This yours?" He asked, teasing.

"My son's." Walter replied tightly, hands clenching the steering wheel, one thing was evident, Mr White was in a foul mood.

* * *

Walter kept his eyes on the road, and both hands on the wheel, trying to ignore the tired itching of his eyes, telling himself that he couldn't possibly be tired, because this was a dream.

"So where the hell are we going?" Jesse asked for the third time, and for the third time Walter ignored him. "Yo! Mr white, if your not gonna tell me where we're going then let me the hell outta here!"  
Was that a hint of fear Walter detected in his student's voice? Sighing, Walter answered.

"We're going to the Albequrty central library. They have sufficient internet there, and the resources we need to do the research. Because Jf Gus, Gale and the rest of them exist then this must be a dream."

"This isn't a dream and you know it." Jesse huffed. "What about school?"

Walter rolled his eyes. "Fuck school." He said, his voice low and dangerous. He didn't bother telling Jesse he'd called in sick. "We're finding out the truth."

"This is pointless." Jesse said, knowing full-well that no matter what they found out at the library, it would not explain what was going on. Unless they ran into like, the alien or witch or whatever that caused this whole situation, Jesse couldn't decide if that'd be cool or scary..

"It's better than nothing, Jesse, you might be able to live in ignorance, but I for one want to at least attempt at uncovering the truth?" Came Walter's reply. Jesse just turned away, his own curiosity the only thing keeping him from just leaving.

* * *

They arrived at the central library in no time with Walter's uncharacteristically speedy driving. They seemed an odd pair to walk into a library together at this time of day- a nerdy-looking 40 year old man, and a teenage boy, but luckily the place was near-empty anyway.

Jesse sat waiting for the computer to load up, While Walter scoured the shelves, pulling out random books as if they might have the answer to all this madness.  
"Yo! It's loaded." Jesse called, "Get over here!"

"I thought even the most ignorant person would know not to shout in the library." Walter said, putting a book back almost reluctantly. "- and these books aren't even in alphabetical order, how is any one suppose to work in such a disorganized area?"

"Whatever. We've done 'work' in a broken RV and bug-infested houses. This place'll be fine." Jesse said, rolling his eyes. It occurred to him Walter seemed to turn into an OCD madman when he was sleep-deprived. He'd only seen Mr White this way a couple of times before, like the time he spent the night cooped up in the super-lab chasing down a fly.

"Shh! Don't talk about that here!" Walter said, almost on instinct. Jesse resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Whatever man, where do we start?"

* * *

Jesse wouldn't say the past hour had been the most boring of his life, but it defiantly ranked in the top ten. Mr White completely hogged the computer for a start, busying himself with research into archives and stuff that Jesse didn't even care to understand. The only 2010-person who'd been easy to find was Gus- he had a small site advertising los pollos hermano's restaurant.

The site boasted proudly about plans to create a second store, and how it would soon become a chain-restaurant. On the main page was a picture of Gus Fring, smiling his usual polite smile that never quite reached his eyes. He hadn't changed at all in the past 10 years, the guy was like a statue or something!

"You see, Jesse? If we'd dreamed up the future it'd be just that- a dream! It wouldn't have elements of reality in it, like the existence of this man here." Walter said, slowly like he was explaining something to a particularly slow child. "That means 2010 is the reality and this is the dream."

"That doesn't prove shit, man." Jesse said. "Gus Fring owns like, a restaurant chain, he has adverts, yo. You could of registered it like, subconsciously."  
Walter fixed Jesse a long challenging look. "Fine. We'll google somebody else. Saul."

"Fine." Jesse said shortly, he felt his temper flare, and he had a strong desire to break something and he wasn't sure why. Lack of sleep? General stress? Teenage hormones? Mr White's annoying face?

Walter quickly typed in '_Saul Goodman_', and sat back as the results took their time loading. "So, first night 'back in the past' and your already spending your time getting drunk and high." Walter said, more as an observation than an accusation, but it made Jesse angry regardless.

"Whatever. I didn't even smoke that much. It was more research than you did." Jesse said, forcing a defiant smirk onto his face. "Besides- you think this is all a dream of yours. What does that say about your mind, man, that your dreaming about going back in time and me getting high."

Walter actually faltered at that, if this was a dream what did that say about his mind set. Realistic dreams you can't tell apart from reality where a sign of insanity, right? Why would he dream Jesse was the only one who knew what he knows. Was he perhaps in a coma and that's why his dream was so long and realistic? Was his life being held in the balance right now, was he really lying on a hospital bed, hit by a car perhaps, or maybe the cancer had made a sudden comeback hitting him like a deadly assassin. Skyler's words flitted briefly through his mind.  
_'I'm waiting for the cancer to come back and kill you'_

"See- nothin' " Walter was brought back to the present (or past, possibly) by Jesse's voice. He looked at the search results. There was no lawyer named Saul Goodman.

"We need to check thoroughly this is only the first page!" Walter said.

"Dude, if this is your dream just make it on the first page." Jesse huffed.

A half hour past of Walter scouring the pages, Jesse passed it by spinning on the computer chair, and flipping through random books. He was just starting the first Harry Potter book, when his teacher suddenly cried out a triumphant

"Aha!"

"What? Did you find him?"

"No, but I remembered something- his real name's Mcgil." Walter said as he typed the name into the search engine.

"It would of been great if you remembered that like, half an hour ago." Jesse grumbled. "- Hey I totally already know how the Harry Potter books end now, you know people were actually betting on that stuff? I could make a fortune!"

"I'm glad that you have a solid life plan." Walter said, sarcastically.

"Whatever man. I made a few hundred in cash just yesterday. So far I'm doing better than your old ass." Jesse said, smugly

"What? How? Have you been selling Drugs? Methamphetamine?" Walter replied, actually turning around to face him.

"Among others." Jesse said, making no mention that he didn't plan to sell again.

"I see." Walter said, he regarded Jesse for a ling awkward moment Before turning his attention back to the screen."Found him."

Jesse leaned forward to the computer screen and almost burst out laughing. A picture of a younger Saul Goodman flashed on screen. He was wearing some kind of vest top and leather jacket, and his hair was spiked up with excess amount of gel. He might of been younger but he wasn't young enough to carry of that look. The slogan on the top of website read '_Saul mcgil- urban Lawyer. Real Lawyer_'.

"So what his gimmick's like being some kind of urban, gangsta, lawyer?" Jesse said, shaking his head. "And I thought his 2010 ad campaign was lame."

"He can settle things without even going to court, apparently." Walter said, a heavy scepticism in his voice. "So you see, Jesse this proves that this is a dream because- "

"- No way. We are not getting into that argument again." Jesse said, ignoring the smug look in Walter's eyes. "Whatever, I haven't eaten since yesterday, I'm going to Mcdonalds."  
"The way you look after your body is awful! How are you even still alive?" Walter said, shaking his head at his young junkie friend. It always astounded him how Jesse seemed to have moderately good health despite his terrible lifestyle.

* * *

Walter dropped Jesse of at school that afternoon, after an awkward McDonalds meal spent discussing plans for staying in this weird past life.

"I could like, write songs from 2010. Good songs- I could make a fortune in the music industry." Says Jesse.

"So you plan to make a life of stealing from others? That's the lowest of the low."

"Well, what are your plans? You gotta have plans, yo."

"To wake up."  
Jesse hoped out of the car, shielding his eyes from the searing new Mexico sun. "Ugh. Why did I leave my spare house keys in my locker?" He groaned. 

His aunt was out on one of her trips, meaning he'd have to sneak into school and get to his locker to get his house key. "And why did I waste my day with you? I'm gonna get a detention now!"  
"Just like when you were actually a high schooler." Walter said from the front seat of his car.

"Prick."

Before the two could start bickering again, a figure hurried over.

"Oh, hello Mr White. I thought you were ill." It was Mrs Grey. Walter resisted the urge to scowl, and instead forced a pleasant smile.

"I was actually just driving to the doctors." Walter said,

"Oh, and you thought you'd give Jesse a lift so he wouldn't be even later to school? That was kind." Mrs Grey said suspicion clear in her voice. Jesse smiled at her in attempt to look innocent and get out of a detention. He was twenty five for gods sake!

"Something like that, yes" Walter said. "Now I have to go to the doctors, don't want to be late. Pinkman, don't give Mrs Grey any trouble."

"Yes Mr White." Jesse said with mock-respect that Walter found infuriating for some reason.

"Jesse, come with me." Mrs White said. Walter drove of smiling smugly while Jesse's mind raced with excuses.

* * *

"Walter, the boiler's broken again. We're going to have to go to Hank and Marie's to get our shower tonight." Was the first words Skyler had said to Walt when he arrived home that evening.

"Yay! S- So we get to see uncle Hank?" Junior cheered happily from his place in the living room. "-but wait, I don't wanna bath."

"Then you don't get to see uncle Hank. You can stay here all on your own." Skyler said, sternly.

"Fine, I'll go." Junior said, pouting almost theatrically.  
Walter made his way over to Skyler.

"Can't we just get it fixed?" He half-whispered. Skyler rolled her eyes and fixed him her best '_your being a dumbass_' look.

"Walter. You know we can't afford that right now." Skyler said, casting her eyes over their son. "You know we need to save."

"I know it's just- " Walter sighed. Humiliating. It was humiliating that he couldn't provide for his family for the most basic things. He had to relay on Hank to keep them clean, for gods sake! He was sure his brother in law secretly felt smug about that. "Never mind.."

"Are you sure your alright, you look like you haven't slept." Skyler said, rubbing his shoulder's soothingly. No! He wanted to yell back at her.

_ No I'm not fine. I've gone from being the most powerful drug lord in ABQ to some loser who can't even afford to fix his boiler! I could possibly be trapped in a coma, and the only person who knows about 2010 seems to despise me. My head hurts and my eyes are stinging. And to top it all of my own son still cares about his uncle more than me. Instead he settled for a simple._

"I'm fine. Just tired."

Before Jesse had been adamant that this wasn't a dream. Now he wasn't so sure. Because his english teacher, Mrs Grey, was in his bed, in his aunts house, lying nude next to him. Holy fuck how had this happened!?

All through the detention she'd been flirting with him, but he figured since that's how she usually was it didn't mean anything. So he just flirted back like any normal person would. Harmless fun. She didn't flirt like a normal freakin' person, either, she said all lyrical artsy stuff, that'd be shameful if any normal person said it.  
"I never noticed, Jesse, but your eyes are such a captivating shade of blue." Every time she said something like that, Jesse would be surprised and flustered, not smooth at all, like an actual teenager he was awkward as hell. But she seemed to like his lame responses.

"Thanks.. I think you eyes are like- pretty."

Her suggestive poses, and the way she seemed to lean in a little too close to him when they were speaking was more than enough to temporarily distract him from thoughts of Mr White. The whole thing was making his weird teenage hormones go crazy, once again he cursed the fact he was stuck in this frustratingly young body. But Mrs Grey seemed to be into that sort of thing..  
She kissed him suddenly half way through the detention. He kissed back without even thinking about it, and afterwords she acted like it hadn't even happened.

Jesse spent the rest of the hour in an agonizing awkwardness, expecting to be suddenly kissed again every time she got too close. He wondered if she counted as a pedophile, but he didn't view himself as a child.

She offered to give him a lift back to his aunts house, and asked if she was in. Jesse took the hint and said no, she was out for the night, "- so do you like, want to come in for like, a drink, or something?" he offered. Unsurprisingly the English teacher agreed. One thing lead to another, and before Jesse had even finished brewing the coffee, he found himself being pulled down onto the couch by a pair of long, pale hands.

* * *

"Damn! First you take our water, now your takin' our beer!?" Hank said, nudging Walter in a jovial sort of way, before laughing. "Ha! I'm just messing with you, Walt, lighten up! I'm happy to help. I just got the new promotion so I can afford it, no troubles."

"Yeah. Great." Walter replied stiffly, suddenly the beer tasted too bitter and the can felt too cold in his clammy hand. He had to remind himself, that Hank doesn't mean to be a rude, insensitive arrogant asshole. He's just messing and he doesn't mean to remind Walt that he's a failure.

"Uncle Hank look how fast I can walk now!" Junior called out, he'd had an operation last summer, it seemed like every time he had one he was thrown back on square one for months. He tottered over leaning on those little metal crutches, beaming.

"Hey watch out, speedy Gonzalo's!" Uncle Hank said, grinning. He picked the kid up and span him around, and the sound of his son's laughter filled Walt's ears. Suddenly, the atmosphere was stifling and he had to go out and do something.

"I'm just going for a drive." Walter said, and without waiting to wittiness his family's reactions, he left, got in the car and sped of.

The old car didn't go nearly as fast as he wanted it to, and the sound of the tinny engine drove into his head like a drill.  
So what now? Was this his reality? Would he be stuck here in this impossible scenario forever? What should he do? What did he want to do?

He wanted to get his power and his empire back, that's what. But was it really such a good idea to go to that dark place again?

Suddenly, while he was driving he noticed something on the side of the road.  
Now, despite his catholic upbringing, Walter had always been agnostic, not wanting to even bother thinking about ideas and religions that could never be proven. But if God did exist, then this was surely a sign straight from him.  
On the side of the road, was an RV with '_for sale £1000'_ written on a piece of paper and haphazardly taped to the window. Walter grinned to himself, plots and plans already forming in his head.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Walter was knocking on Jesse's door. He'd bought the RV for less than the original price. It was a bargain! He got it of some bigshot banker who'd just gone bankrupt. It was a real steal. Finally things were starting to make sense- he had purpose! ..even if this was all his imagination.

The door swung open to reveal Jesse. His hair stuck up in all directions, and his shirt was on backwards, like he'd gotten changed in a hurry. His blue eyes narrowed when he saw Walter standing before him.  
"Yeah, what do you want?" He asked. Eloquent as ever.

"Let me talk to you, just give me a minute of your time." He said, already stepping in. Jesse stared at him for a long moment, his blue eyes boring into Walt, finally, he stepped away.

"Fine. But be quick." Jesse said, letting his teacher in and closing the door after him. Walter took a moment to examine the room. It was decorated with mismatched furniture, and the wall was crammed with cheap looking ornaments and trinkets, the type you buy from tacky little tourist shops. There were pictures on the walls of a younger Jesse, and other family members that Walter had never seen back when Jesse owned the house.

"Well what is it? It better not be the same bullshit."  
"

Jesse, your in the meth business already, aren't you? Your already selling at this point, I mean." Mr White said,

"Yeah. A little. What about it?" Jesse said, he suddenly regretted telling Mr White that. If only he hadn't mentioned it..

"Jesse, let's start the business again. We know what to do this time. No more mistakes. I have an RV already." Walter said. "Think of the millions we could make."

"Are you shitting me!?" Jesse hissed, his voice low. "After all that's happened you actually want to start that again?" He took a step towards the older man. "No way. I'm out, man."

"Jesse, I can understand why you left the first time. Things got out of hand." Walter said, his voice was low, caring. Jesse could almost believe the emotion behind it was genuine. "But now we can start afresh! Nobody has to die, it will be s smooth operation."

"You keeping saying that! But someone else always has to die. Fuck, I can't even remember how many people were killed!" Jesse said, throwing his arms open for effect. "Why man? You don't have cancer now, you don't need to do this."

"Jesse I don't have cancer yet but I will do. My family's poor, now. My son- if I could afford proper speech therapy and operations for him his life could be improved so much more. He could be normal. Does 't he deserve that?"

Jesse faltered for a moment, Walt knew the quickest way to win an argument with Jesse was an emotional appeal.

"But it doesn't have to be meth, yo. You could make money other ways! Less illegal ways!" The younger one said.

"Oh, like what?" Walter snapped, transforming from compassionate to irritated in an instant.

"You- we- know stuff about the future now, yo, you could just win the lottery or invest in the stock market. Whatever!" Jesse said, gesturing wildly like he so often did in arguments. Walter paused, and without his eyes leaving Jesse's, he walked across the room and sat on the couch like he owned the place.

"You know, for some reason I haven't memorized the numbers for the lottery, or kept a record of trends in the stock market." Walter said, giving Jesse an unamused look. "If you could impart with me that information I assume you took the time to remember, that'd be excellent."

"You bastard! This isn't about the money, is it?" Jesse snarled, pointing an accusing finger in Walt's face. "This isn't about providing for your family or any of that, is it!? It's all about you. You getting to play drug lord because face it, man, you got fucking drunk on power."  
Walter felt a flare of anger run through him. That had hit a nerve. Jesse was wrong, anyway, he was doing this for his family! It was his duty as a man! The fact he enjoyed the power was just a bonus. Or so he kept telling himself.

Menacingly, Walter stood up to his full height, looking Jesse straight in the eye, he grabbed the younger man's outstretched arm, and pulled it back down. God, the kid's wrists were so skinny!  
"Bitch what're you?- don't touch me." Jesse growled, backing away, Walt pursued.

"Jesse everything I did was for my family, even if they never appreciate it. They mean everything to me." He said, slowly. "I don't think you understand what I'm offering you here. This is your only chance to be successful at something, don't you want that?"

"Your offering me a place in the fucking drug underworld." Jesse spat back, very aware of how close Mr White was, and how the mantle piece he was backed up against dug into his back.

"You, are already a drug dealer. You did that without my interference. Now, are you going to become a worthless junkie like you were before, or are you going to make something of yourself?" Walter asked. "Your can do so much better, if you'd just apply yourself. Be honest with yourself, after Fring when we were running our own operation, it was good. Admit it. You liked it, it was a smooth operation."

"You know what? I did like it." Jesse said, and it was the truth. He liked the feeling of power he had, and the satisfaction of knowing he was actually good at something- not just good, the best. But what he'd really liked though, was sitting down at the end of a cook and sharing a beer with Mr White. Just hanging out. They'd chat and watch TV, and Mr White finally saw him as an equal, as an individual of worth, not just a junkie idiot. But then Todd murdered a kid and everything became clear, like an unforgiving flashlight had been shone on Jesse's world. His only talent was making a poison, their business was built on an addiction that ruined lives and the man he was so happy to please was a power-hungry sociopath.

"So lets start again. I know we can do it. You can do it." Walter said, smiling. He knew Jesse was weak against encouragement, the Kid was easily swayed.

"I liked it until Todd killed that kid, you fucking killed Mike, and ordered the Killing of ten guys in jail, you psycho bitch." Jesse said, his voice raising and his eyes flashing with a rage he'd been trying so hard to contain.

"I did what I had to do to protect us. I was protecting you as much as me."

"I don't want anyone killed for me! You know- I'd rather be a junkie loser than a murderer!"

"Well, too bad for you, because your both!" Walter shouted back, in a sudden rage.

"Fuck you, man!" Jesse yelled back, pushing his teacher away from him, hard. Walt stumbled back, almost falling over, and in blind retaliation, with his judgement clouded by beer and lack of sleep, he grabbed Jesse with a fervent grip and flung him to the floor.  
"You ungrateful little shit!" Walter hissed, aiming a kick at Jesse's stomach only to have his leg grabbed by bony fingers, and find himself being dragged painfully to the floor. He collided with the ground with a **smack**, the worn old carpet did little to soften the pain of the impact.

There was a a fraction of a moment were both Walter and Jesse were still, both contemplating what to do next- their heads told them to leave it, but every fiber of their emotional bring was itching with the desire to attack the other man. To hurt him.

It wasn't clear who broke the stillness first, but the next thing was, the two men lunged at each other in a blind fury. Walter knocked Jesse to the floor first, having the advantage of weight. Jesse hissed, swinging his fist wildly, getting a rush of satisfaction when he felt it smash into his teacher's face. Walter felt his glasses crunch into his face, accompanied by a sudden pain that only increased his wrath. Without hesitation he returned the blow, punching Jesse square in the face.

"Ah! Bitch- " the younger one cried out, Walter was stronger than he was used to, being ten years younger and cancer free, this time he could beat this skinny kid. The thought spurred him on. Jesse hit him again with all his might.

"That was for Mike." He yelled, still trying to shove his teacher of. He looked at the man on top of him, whose eyes were red-rimmed and wild, whose raging expression mirrored his own. He wanted to hurt him.

Before Walter could, yet again, deny killing Mike, Jesse swung at him, his fist clenched. Before he could connect with Mr White's face, the guy grabbed both his wrists, wrestling them further to the floor.

"You stupid junkie! You take everything we build and turn it to shit!" Walter hissed, face inches from his struggling student. "You always make idiotic moves and ruin everything, then you give up and I have to sort your messes out."

Jesse growled from underneath him. "You think because I don't want to cook meth I'm the idiot!? You think I'm giving up?" He hissed. "Your the one who gave up, man, you gave up on your goddamn family. You wanted that drug empire over your wife, you- "

Before Jesse could finish, Walter wrapped his hands around the boys neck and squeezed.

"Don't you dare even talk about my wife! You- you- dropout loser!" Walter hissed, Jesse's fists connected with his face again, and his glasses went flying across the room, but his grip didn't loosen. "Junkie idiot! What do you know about family! You have no family, nobody!"

Walter let the anger and frustration he was feeling at Jesse, himself and everything take over. He was vaguely aware of the boy writhing under him and scratching desperately at his hands. He thought of how he'd sold his soul to provide for Skyler and she'd cheated on him, he thought of Hank's sly digs, Marie's attention-seeking, How his son seemed so dismissive of his father, How he was stuck in a weird twilight zone-like situation which felt to real to be a dream.

His insecurity's flooded his mind- the way Skyler looked at him, like he was a big disappointment, she married a genius who was suppose to become successful but she ended up stuck with a lame high school teacher.

He thought of the bored faces of his class- of every class over the years, how futile teaching had become. He thought of how his wife wanted him dead, and even Jesse had walked out on him. His grip tightened.

Jesse saw bright spots of light, and his head felt light. Terror flooded him as he realised Mr White wasn't letting go, he could still make out the deranged expression on the man's face. He felt his energy drain, as his punches and scratches got increasingly feebler. He was inches from passing out, when he saw a blurry figure rush into the room, and push Mr White. Suddenly the iron grip was around his throat was released, he took in a few deep gulps of air and felt his head spin.  
Walter looked up at the women who'd pushed him, made him realize what he was doing. At first he thought, with dread, that it might be Jesse's Aunt. Then he saw her hair that was dyed an unnatural shade of blonde, and he noticed her face that was caked in makeup to hide any possible wrinkles.

"Mrs- Mrs Grey? Blanche?" He said, his voice was eerily calm and didn't reveal any of the tidal wave of emotions beneath the surface.

"D- do I k-know you?" Mrs Grey said, sounding terrified at the prospect of being recognized. Walter almost groaned; he was so mundane that people often forgot him. She scrutinized his face for a moment then gasped. "Walter!? What're were you doing? Y-you assaulted a minor, and student! I could go to the police."

Walter looked up at her, took in her messy hair and mismatched clothes like they'd been thrown on in haste. Like Jesse's. Suddenly he was very aware of what she'd been doing here.

"I could go to the police and report a case of pedophilia. Jesse is a minor, and your student" Walter said evenly, everything still felt surreal, and he still hadn't really thought about what he'd done.

She laughed a shrill desperate laugh.

"W-we never! You can't- you can't prove anything!" She said, but Walter could see her hands shaking and he knew he'd won this one. Mrs Blanche Grey was too much of a coward to put her own neck on the line.

"Mr White-don't fucking talk to her like that- she isn't a pedo, 'aight. You bastard." Jesse wheezed, after recovering from his coughing fit. He massaged his reddened throat and looked over at Walter with a mixture of contempt and fear, and suddenly the chemistry teacher felt a wave of regret.

"Jesse I- I didn't mean to fight. I mean you did start it but- it's been a rough couple of days, you know that. Things got out of control, but I promise- "

"Save it." Jesse said, trying to keep his voice even. "Just leave, take your bullshit some place else."

"I'll give you some time to think about what I said." Walter picked up his glasses as he stood up, and Jesse resented the way he acted so cool and collected.

"W-what's going on between you two!?" Blanche stammered. She wasn't good at dealing with confrontations.

"It doesn't matter." Walter said darkly. "Just know that if you report me, or try anything, then I'll be happy to tell the principle about- this-"  
He gestured around the room, his intimidating gaze never leaving the woman in front of him.

"Jesse- he would never! Never admit to any unsavory gossip about me!" Blanche said, with vindication. Jesse nodded in agreement.

Mr White's eyes flicked to his student. "Jesse would never rat me out, either so I guess we're at stalemate."

Both the teachers looked to Jesse for conformation of this. He sighed.  
"I'm not a rat." He said, finally. Walter felt a bubble of pride in his chest. Jesse was still loyal. He could come around. Blanche looked disappointed.

"I know." Walter replied, Jesse shot him a glare.  
"Yo! Did you not hear me I said said get the hell out of here!" Jesse shouted, his voice still sounding hoarse.

Mumbling a half-hearted apology, and shooting one last warning glare at Mrs Grey, Walter left. His mind once again scheming.

* * *

**(A/N: This chapters kind of all over the place, and I can't remember why I thought adding a character like Mrs Grey was a good idea, buuuut you know :3.. hopefully next chapter will be better :D**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! :).. and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! 3**


End file.
